The school uses the National Curriculum 2014 as a basis for all schemes of work. Curriculum overviews can be found on a separate page. Further details about each term’s work can be found in individual class teacher’s termly curriculum letters; these are sent out to parents at the start of each term.
At Crosscanonby St John's C of E primary we have designed our curriculum in a way that allows us to recognise our children’s prior learning and to maximise the opportunities within our local area in order to provide first hand learning experiences that allow our pupils to not only make progress academically, but to also develop life skills. We celebrate and welcome differences within our school community and aim to deliver a curriculum that allows pupils to become creative, critical thinkers, develop inter-personal skills, build resilience and become life-long independent learners. All that we teach is underpinned by Fundamental British Values and our ‘Star Christian Values’.
We strive to provide all our pupils with the opportunity to succeed and to reach the highest level of personal achievement. We do this by:
- Ensuring equality of access for all pupils and preparing them for life in a diverse society
- Using materials that reflect the diversity of the school, population and local community without stereotyping
- Promoting attitudes and values that challenge any discriminatory behaviour or prejudice
- Providing opportunities for pupils to appreciate their own culture and celebrate the diversity of other cultures
- Seeking to involve all parents in supporting their child’s education
- Being inclusive and accepting of all
We regularly provide enhancement opportunities, in and out of school, to engage learners and to promote positive attitudes to learning. We strive to provide a stimulating environment, and a curriculum, that provides opportunities for children to be happy and engaged, provides new experiences and extends knowledge in ways that allows them to develop inquiring minds in order to investigate the world around them.
Children are given opportunities to contribute to their learning with ideas for research in some subjects. They chose our core Christian values for this year.
We hope that the impact of our curriculum will be seen not only in attainment and the acquisition of skills and knowledge, but also in the manner in which our pupils conduct themselves as they journey through life. We hope that our pupils leave us as tolerant, caring, confident and polite members of society who understand and respect everybody’s differences and are able to make decisions that will have a positive impact on their community. We celebrate achievements in all areas, not just academic, during our weekly Friday achievement assemblies.
During a normal week all classes cover the following subjects: Computing; Maths; English; History or Geography; Art or Design and Technology; PE; RE; Science; Music and a Modern Foreign Language in KS2. From January 2020 we re-introduced lessons in PSHE to cover new RSE requirements and we use Jigsaw as a basis for this.
Homework
As the children progress through the school the amount of homework will increase. We will try not to overload; we fully appreciate that they need time to relax too. Where possible we try to make homework an activity that can be done with your child, particularly in the Early Years and KS1.
Please hear your child read as they may not always be heard regularly in school. Help your child to learn tables, go over them, then ask out of sequence or as a problem to check they really are known. By the end of Year 4 pupils should know all of the tables.
The school expects homework to be done on time unless a parent/carer has given sound reasons to the child’s teacher saying why this was not possible.
Spellings
Spellings are given weekly from Yr 1 up and we ask that the children learn these in the following way: Look, Say, Cover, Write and Check, so that they cannot see the word as they write it down.
Religious Education
This is taught in accordance with the County Agreed Syllabus, and is of a broadly Christian nature. The children also study a number of other faiths to help prepare them for their future in our multi-cultural society.
It is a legal requirement that all children have access to knowledge of both Christian and other faiths. Parents have the right of withdrawal if they do not wish their children to participate. If children are withdrawn from either RE or collective worship, they would be supervised by a member of staff in a suitable activity. RE is taught once a week by class teachers.
Relationships, Health and Sex Education
The Governors’ policy on Sex Education in school is that this should be taught as part of the Science curriculum. It will be treated in a sensitive, but factual way throughout the school. Lessons will be appropriate to the age of the children being taught.
Parents of Y6 children will be invited into school to see how this area will be taught to their children.
A parent has the right to withdraw their child/children, from Sex education, except that which is part of the National Curriculum for science requirement.
There is no right to withdraw children from health or relationships education. From January 2020 relationships and health education have been taught as part of PSHE lessons. Our policy for this is available on our policy page.
Educational Visits
We believe that taking children out of school to gain first hand experience is a valuable way of learning. These may be taken at any time during the school year and are connected to the work the children are doing at the time. Parental permission is obtained for any journey. A voluntary contribution towards such visits is usually requested. We take pupils in Years 5/6 on residential visits to an outdoor activity centre.
Involving Parents
In Nursery and Year Reception parents are able to view and comment on their child’s day to day progress and learning through Tapestry. To access this, please speak to Mrs Stephenson and she will provide the link and your own password.
All pupils in other classes use a web based learning platform called Purple Mash and pupils are able to access this at home using their own individual password and they can share their work with parents if they wish.
Full details about how we have designed our curriculum can be found by clicking on the Our School Day and Our Curriculum link.
*PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK TO VIEW OUR PROGRESSION MAPS FOR THE FOUNDATION SUBJECTS:
https://crosscanonby-primary-school.schudio.com/admin/document_groups/view/41367